(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel liquid-absorbing shaped body. More particularly, the present invention provides a liquid-absorbing shaped body excellent in both the liquid-absorbing capacity and the liquid-retaining property.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
As the liquid-absorbing material, there have been used shaped fibrous bodies obtained by wet-forming fibers such as pulp fibers and rayon fibers under a low pressure, such as absorbent papers.
However, although these fibrous shaped bodies are excellent in the liquid-absorbing capacity, that is, the amount of the absorbed liquid (liquid absorbability) and the liquid-absorbing rate, they are very poor in the liquid-retaining property. Accordingly, when a conventional absorbent paper such as mentioned above is used as blotting paper, there is observed a disadvantage that if ink on paper is absorbed by the absorbent paper and it is intended to absorb ink again with the same portion of the absorbent paper, the previously absorbed ink is caused to ooze out by the pressure for applying the absorbent paper to the paper surface.
Various starch-modified polymers such as starch-acrylic acid ester copolymers have recently been proposed as liquid-absorbing materials. These startch-modified polymers are especially excellent in the liquid absorbability to water and have a relatively good liquid-retaining property.
However, these starch-modified polymers are defective in that since the starch-modified polymers extremely swell on absorption of liquids, liquid passages are closed especially when particles of the starch-modified polymers are present in the state where they are brought in close proximity to one another, resulting in reduction of the liquid-absorbing speed. Moreover, it is very difficult to shape these starch-modified polymers into certain forms. Accordingly, such polymer is inevitably used in the powdery form, and hence, the application fields and methods are limited. Although the liquid absorbability of such starch-modified polymer to water is excellent, the liquid absorbability to an inorganic salt aqueous solution or organic solution is ordinarily very poor.